I know the birthday cake may seem anachronistic but Wookieepedia says they DO have birthday cakes in the galaxy far far away, so my shameless fluff is justified

"Done!" Padmé set the spoon aside, looking pleased.

Anakin put away the last of the ingredients and came over to hug her from behind, kissing her on the cheek. "It looks good," he told her as he observed the cake batter. "But let me do a taste test before we put it in the oven, because to be honest, I don't trust you not to have put in salt instead of sugar."

Padmé stuck her tongue out at him, and Anakin dipped a finger in the bowl and licked it. He immediately started coughing; it tasted terrible. "I was only joking before, but you actually did put in salt instead of sugar."

"What? I swear I didn't, come on, look." She opened a cabinet and pulled out a container. "This is what I used."

"Yes, that's the salt," Anakin said, grinning.

As if determined to prove him wrong despite the fact that she had never set foot in this kitchen before, Padmé poured some out on her hand, grabbed a pinch, and put it in her mouth. She made a face. "Ugh, fine, that's the salt. But it's not my fault, it isn't labeled. How was I supposed to know?"

"Well, the salt is in here with all the spices and the sugar is over there—" He pointed a few cabinets over "—with the flour. The handmaidens have a whole organizational system, this kitchen's set up the same as the one at home. But I guess you've never been in that one either."

Padmé huffed indignantly. "Are we going to have to start the whole thing over?"

"Yes, but it's all right, because we're having fun."

"Speak for yourself."

Given that she'd been living in palaces with other people cooking for her since she was fourteen, Padmé had no idea how to cook. Anakin wasn't exactly a master chef himself but he knew his way around a kitchen, so he'd decided to enlist Padmé's help in making the twins' birthday cake and thereby start teaching her to cook. He'd figured it wouldn't be too difficult seeing as Padmé easily mastered every skill she set out to learn, but apparently cooking wasn't going to be one of them.

(Honestly, it was kind of a relief to finally find something that she couldn't do.)

The second bowl of cake batter turned out well, so they put it in the oven and started making the icing. After some deliberation they'd decided to decorate the cake to look like Artoo, since he was just about the twins' favorite person—well, droid—in the entire galaxy. Anakin was pretty sure Luke and Leia liked Artoo better than they liked him or Padmé. In fact, while Leia's first word had been "mama," Luke's had been "Artoo." Not that Anakin was bitter or anything.

As abysmal a cook as she was, Padmé turned out to be quite good at cake decorating (and Anakin cheated a little with the Force) and by the time they were finally done, they had a beautiful birthday cake.

"It's almost a shame we worked so hard on this when the twins won't even remember it," Anakin remarked. "Are you sure it's all right for them to even eat it? It's a lot of sugar."

"We'll only give them tiny little pieces. I even checked with Sola the other day and she said it won't do them any harm," Padmé soothed him. "It's a special occasion, they deserve a little extra sugar on their first birthday."

"I suppose." Anakin gestured at her nose, which had a dot of bright blue icing on it. "You've got some icing on your face."

Padmé reached up to touch her cheek. "Where?"

"I'll get it." He leaned in and licked the icing right off her nose, making her giggle. "Mmm. Delicious." Anakin wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I can think of some things that taste even better, though."

"Oh, so mature," Padmé said, but she was still laughing. She tugged him closer and kissed him hard. Anakin made a surprised noise but then eagerly kissed her back, and with a wave of his hand all the cooking utensils were unceremoniously flying off the counter so that Padmé had room to hop up on it.

She started fumbling with his belt, and Anakin was halfway done undoing the laces in the back of her dress when the door opened. "My Lady, how is—oh, pardon me."

They sprang apart and turned around to look guiltily towards the doorway like a pair of children caught eating the icing right out of the bowl. Sabé was standing there, shaking her head and looking fondly exasperated. "I was only going to ask how the cake was coming along, but apparently everything's going well," she said.

"Yes, very well," Padmé said with as much dignity as she could muster while Anakin sheepishly used the Force to pick up everything they'd knocked askew.

Sabé left, snickering a little. "The twins should still be napping for another hour," Anakin said once he'd recovered from his embarrassment. "What do you say we continue this in the bedroom?"

Padmé grinned. "Race you there."

Afterwards, they took advantage of the last few precious minutes before Luke and Leia were due to wake up by lying in bed and having a moment to breathe. Moments like these were pretty few and far between nowadays; as if parenting one-year-old twins wasn't a full-time job on its own, Padmé also had all her Empress responsibilities while Anakin was often busy with Ahsoka training their first few students. But they'd taken a full two weeks off to go to Naboo for celebrations of both the twins' birthday and Anakin and Padmé's second wedding ceremony, which had taken place the week before.

As far as Anakin was concerned, it had been just about the happiest two weeks of his life. He'd gotten to marry his wife again and spend a relaxing two weeks at a beautiful (and very private) lake house with her, and now they were celebrating their children's first birthday. Only a few short years ago, he wouldn't have thought he'd ever get to experience any of this.

"I had fun today," Padmé said after a quiet minute.

Anakin smirked at her. "So did I."

"I meant—not that this wasn't fun, of course, but I meant making the cake," she said, rolling her eyes at him and laughing. "I like doing things like that together. Normal things."

"Me too," Anakin said. "Obviously I'm proud of everything you do and I wouldn't change it for the galaxy, but sometimes it's nice to feel like a normal family instead of the imperial royal family."

"Yes." Padmé gave him a small smile. "You know, I think you make me feel normal for the first time since I became queen of Naboo."

Anakin laughed. "Most people say they love their partners because they make them feel special, but for you it's because I make you feel normal."

"Shut up," Padmé said, giggling. She climbed on top of him and kissed him to shut him up even more thoroughly, but before they could go any further Anakin sensed through the Force that Leia was starting to wake up.

They spent a couple hours playing with the twins, and Padmé's family arrived in the late afternoon with birthday gifts in tow. They sat down to dinner after opening the gifts (well, really, Anakin and Padmé had opened them while Luke and Leia played with Artoo) and once they'd finished eating, the handmaidens brought out the birthday cake. "Darlings, look at the cake Daddy and I made for you," Padmé told the twins, pointing at it. Leia was busy sticking her spoon in her mouth, but Luke stared at the cake for a long moment, and then he pointed excitedly at Artoo and babbled incomprehensibly.

"That's right, Luke, it's Artoo," Anakin said, thrilled that their hard work was appreciated. Artoo chirped at him, and he laughed. "I know it's weird to watch us all eat you. I promise we'll do a Threepio cake next year."

If Threepio could've swelled with importance, he would have. "It would be my honor, Master Ani."

Padmé started cutting the cake, and Anakin passed out pieces to everyone. Luke happily grabbed a fistful and stuffed it in his mouth, getting quite a bit of it all over his face, whereas Leia seemed like she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. But with Anakin and Padmé's encouragement she tentatively put a little bit in her mouth, and Anakin could swear he saw her whole face light up. She immediately began wolfing it down, and everyone laughed.

"Looks like someone has a sweet tooth," Padmé said, smiling.

Anakin kissed her on the cheek. "Wonder who she got that from."

The twins had a burst of energy thanks to all the sugar, but when they crashed an hour later, they crashed hard. Luke passed out in Anakin's lap while a cranky Leia started gearing up for a tantrum, so Padmé hastily got her ready for bed while Anakin changed Luke into his sleepwear and put him in his crib, amazed that he stayed sound asleep for the whole process. A year sharing a bedroom with his much fussier sister had turned him into a very heavy sleeper.

Leia looked like she was trying her hardest to stay angry but was just too tired, and within minutes she'd fallen asleep too. "She really reminds me of you," Padmé said with a chuckle after they'd tiptoed out of the nursery. "So stubborn."

"You're one to talk," Anakin said. "I seem to remember you proposing marriage to me and refusing to take no for an answer."

Padmé rolled her eyes, and he snickered. Once again, he found himself marveling at how much things had changed since that day Padmé had captured him on Tatooine. He would never have imagined that he'd be teasing her about it in the years to come, making light of an incident which had once seemed like the end of the world to him.

Ryoo and Pooja were both yawning too when Anakin and Padmé rejoined the family in the sitting room, so the Naberries made their goodbyes and headed home not long afterwards. After sending them on their way, Anakin went back to sit on the sofa in front of the fireplace and Padmé curled up next to him, alone at last.

"I can't believe they're a year old already," she said wistfully.

"I know." Anakin slid his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "A year ago today I almost lost all three of you," he said quietly. He'd been doing his best to treat the day like the joyous occasion it was, but it was hard not to think about the traumatic circumstances of the twins' birth.

"A year ago today you saved all three of us," Padmé corrected him firmly. "Don't dwell on the negatives."

"I know, I know. It's just…the bits I remember most are how terrified I was that you were all going to die," Anakin said. "The moment of their birth should be a happy memory for us, and it's not."

"Easy for you to say. I don't think labor and delivery would've been a great memory for me even if everything did go as planned," Padmé joked, and he couldn't help but laugh. "And the moment of their birth doesn't matter in the long run, because every single moment of their lives after that moment is a happy memory."

"I guess."

Padmé reached up to play with his hair, as if sensing he wasn't fully soothed. "Next time everything will go perfectly," she promised.

Anakin stared at her. "Wait a minute. You aren't—?"

"What? Oh, no, no, Force no," Padmé said quickly, laughing. "I just meant, when the day of our third child's birth does come, several years from now, it'll be a happy day and nothing will go wrong."

"Oh." Anakin smiled. "So you do want more children, then?"

"I'd be happy to have one or two more, yes. Would you?"

"Honestly, I'd want, like, ten of them."

She laughed again. "I think four is my maximum."

"Maybe five?"

"Definitely not."

"What if we go to have a fourth child and it turns out to be twins again so then we'll end up with five?"

"Then I'll think you somehow manipulated the Force to make that happen."

They both laughed, and then they fell into a comfortable silence for a while. "You know, before I met you…sometimes I didn't think it would be possible for me to be truly happy again," Padmé said softly. "After what happened to my parents, to Naboo…and then living all alone in that palace every day with only Palpatine for company. I didn't think I'd get to have this sort of happiness. And now I do, all because of you."

"I could say the same thing," Anakin said. "After the Jedi purge, when I was just hiding out on Tatooine, I always wondered what the point of it all was, why I bothered to continue living when almost everyone I cared about was dead. And then I met you, and I was even more miserable for a while." They both chuckled. "And now I'm the happiest man in the entire galaxy."

Padmé leaned up and tugged his head down so she could kiss him. "I love you," she said. "So much."

"I love you so much too." Anakin kissed her again. Then he pulled her closer against him, and they sat there quietly for a while, savoring the rare moment of peace and utter privacy. For the time being, they weren't Empress and Emperor Consort Amidala. They were just Anakin and Padmé.

Anakin leaned down to nuzzle her hair, breathing in the familiar scent of her shampoo. "What do you say we stay here forever and never go back to Coruscant?" he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Mmm, that's very tempting," Padmé said, snuggling into his chest. "But Luke and Leia would never forgive us if they knew we gave up the throne before they got a chance to sit on it."

Well, it's finally over! Thanks so much for reading and especially to everyone who's been leaving reviews! I had so much fun with this AU and I hope you did too :D Who knows if inspiration may strike later for a oneshot or something, but for now I have no plans to return to this AU because the story feels complete to me. But never fear, I have some other things in the works! I've got a couple oneshots that are just about done, so those should be up fairly soon, and also a new longer modern AU work brewing (but who knows if I will actually finish it anytime soon). Thank you all so much for reading this story!